Waterspout Forms In Castle Harbour Area
Just after 3pm this afternoon [Aug.1] two funnel clouds formed in the Castle Harbour area with one becoming a waterspout which remained for about 10 minutes before dissipating back into a funnel cloud, which dissipated a few minutes later.
Bermuda Weather Service meteorologist Michelle Pitcher said, “Just after 3pm local time the first of two funnel clouds formed just south of Castle Island, near Frick’s Point. Soon after that, the second one formed next to the first.”
“About 3:15pm the first funnel cloud had dissipated, while the second funnel cloud continued to grow and became a waterspout when it reached the ocean’s surface. This waterspout persisted for about 10 minutes before dissipating back into a funnel cloud and then the funnel cloud dissipated a few minutes after that.”
The screenshot was taken from the video below, showing a waterspout 200nm off Bermuda last year:
“Funnel clouds and waterspouts do form several times a year in Bermuda, mainly in the late spring to early fall. Today’s was formed by a convergence between an outflow boundary from a very active area of thunderstorms about 100nm to our northeast and a cold front that was settling over the area from the north.”
“The funnel clouds formed just as the outflow boundary reached our area, noted by showers and isolated thunderstorms 10 to 15 nm to our southeast and by the winds veering from the southwest to the northeast then east.”
“The changing wind fields plus the unstable atmosphere allowed for rotation and formation of the funnel clouds and subsequently the waterspout. This also occurs more frequently over the ocean than on the land as the ocean’s surface has less friction when compared to the land and therefore less resistance to the winds.”
The waterspouts below were filmed in April 2010, approximately 200 miles off Bermuda:
“The meteorological definitions of each feature are as follows, taken from the Glossary of Meteorology published by the American Meteorological Society:
“Funnel Cloud: a funnel-shaped cloud of condensation, usually extending from a deep convective cloud (i.e. heavy shower or thunderstorm), and associated with a violently rotating column of air that is not in contact with the ground.
“Waterspout: in general, any tornado over a body of water, reaching the surface of the water, they occur most frequently in the subtropics during the warm season and their average lifespan is 5-10 minutes.”
“Finally, funnel clouds and waterspouts are usually isolated features whose exact position and formation is hard to predict. We at the weather service know the types of conditions that are favorable to formation, but it is harder to forecast if one will form within sight of the Island or in the marine area as we occupy such a small space in the ocean,” concluded Ms Pitcher.
[If you happened to get a photo of today's waterspout please feel free to email us!]
Read More About
Category: All, Environment
